Queensland government invests in crypto-based travel and tourism startup TravelbyBit

The government of Australian state of Queensland has announced a grant to a cryptocurrency startup TravelbyBit.

TravelbyBit, a digital currency payments platform for the travel and tourism industry, is one of 70 companies that will receive the grant as part of over $8.3 million in Palaszczuk Government innovation funding.

The government has recognized the startup’s potential to drive more tourists to Central Queensland. Innovation Minister Kate Jones said TravelbyBit was among the latest round of companies to receive Advance Queensland Ignite Ideas funding, which is part of the Palaszczuk Government’s $650 million Advance Queensland initiative.

“Tourism is one of Queensland’s most important industries. TravelbyBit has devised a clever way to make it easier for visitors to our state to pay for their purchases with a growing number of local businesses accepting cryptocurrency payments,” she said.

TravelbyBit enables businesses to accept payments in digital currencies like Bitcoin in a simple and secure manner. Its system is currently used by over 150 merchants across Australia, co-founder and CEO Caleb Yeoh said in a statement.

Jones said the companies supported through Ignite Ideas had products that were on the cusp of commercialisation, or ready to scale up for new markets. She said that the grant will help TravelbyBit to “scale-up their operation and ultimately create more jobs in Queensland.”

Yeoh said the $100,000 from round four Ignite Ideas funding would allow the company to build upon the success it has already achieved in connecting local Queensland merchants to cryptocurrency-spending tourists. He added that the funding will be used to develop a “purpose-built platform that will accept digital currencies from anywhere in the world, will allow us to add jobs not only directly to our team but also across the broader tourism industry.”

TravelbyBit currently supports Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dash, Ethereum, XEM, and announced plans to add support for BNB soon.